It was now coming up to the Year 1986. Do you know what year that was? The year I left school, going into the big wide world full of 'Confidence and Enthusiasm', or so I thought . what did Franklin Kington want to do when he left school? He wanted to be an electrician, and to be an electrician you have to be good at Maths. Well one thing I was not good at was Maths. Oh no! Shock Shock Horror Horror - what am I going to do? I was that naughty, I used to get thrown out of exam lessons preparing us for our exams, but I knew the girls like a naughty boy.
my mum took me to Openshaw Technical College because I had an interview there to enrol on a Electrician Course. I was so excited! Yes going to go to college to further my Education - that was cool. There was around about 20 kids in the classroom including myself waiting to sit the entrance exam.
'Let's get started said the teacher', looking at the exam sheet, I knew I wasn't going to pass this exam, but to my surprise not one of the kids in that lesson passed the exam either! It saved my embarrassment of failing - I knew there was one kid who was still doing the exam so hadn't received his result back - but my disappointment was there to be seen on my face...I was almost in tears with the results, it wasn't good enough. I went home that day absolutely deflated.
I knew a joint would ease the pain and take away the problem, well for a few hours I thought, but the problem was still there. I went through a phase of asking myself, 'what do I do next?' I though of All the things what I was good at like Athletics, I should of pursued this further but I didn't. Was my lack of confidence showing up in my life, I needed the extra push but feel I didn't get this. As my life started to get boring, Sex and Drugs and Rock n Roll kicked in daily for me. Soon That buzz of getting High was wearing off. I felt I needed a 'Bigger Buzz', something different, more scary or daring, a new adventure, a new drug.
I had seen it all now, cannabis, hot knives, a bong, a blowback, a chillum, solvent abuse. Me and my friends knew so many different ways to get high, even through solvent abuse. My friends and I knew so many different ways to get high. But was this buzz good enough for me or did I need more? What was that 'more'?I saw so many school friends putting needles/syringes into their arms to abuse either Heroin or Amphetamines.
What if tried this ? What would the consequences be?Well you never know if you don't try, so I did. The first time My friends let me try speed, I enjoyed the feeling of it piercing through my veins and blood. we used to call it a 'rush' and it was certainly like that. Wow that feeling I felt my head hit the roof. Now I was feeling like Superman flying through the air! 'Look at me taking Amphetamines in my arms, I am a cool kid!' well I thought I was. 'You can't touch Frankie Kington, he is Superman putting Amphetamines in his arms, I bet you can't do that, you're not brave enough, you cant handle it!' but could I? I realised I wasn't sleeping and because of this sometimes I felt myself Hallucinating sometimes. One thing that I was proud of though - during all my wild years on drugs was that I never robbed off anyone to get drugs, because I always had money in my pocket through working.
I always used to work.At that time, I worked in the Post Office industry as an office clerk.My mum insisted that I had to work,which I was comfortable with.My family seen a massive change in me and was wondering if I was up to no good. They would say things like frankie, I notice you are getting home quite late.Have you been to a club? or they would say, you look tired.Are you getting any sleep? I ignored their concerns, saying I was actually fine don't worry about me, but my behaviour was becoming very irrational and out of character. Even my Uncle Eddie Lewis was concerned and he used to be addicted to Heroin. 'Leave me alone, I am fine' I said to myself, still thinking I was Superman.Looking back I would probably say those last six months were the darkest days. I was getting worse and worse and worse.
One Friday night I went out with a friend from school, I had just had a fix of Speed (Amphetamine) and feeling like Superman again.My friend and I had a night out in the most famous club in Manchester, The Hacienda, Wow I was 'off my tree' just like my friend and. We had a great night and I got in my house around 4.00am in the morning. The next day I woke quite late, still 'coming down' from the night before. I was still tired and very exhausted due to lack of sleep, I did not feel the same I felt extremely paranoid and scared as I lay in my bed in my room. I started to hear theses horrible noises all about myself, my name was called a lot of the time. I felt like a Paranoid Schizophrenic, the noises getting worse and worse in my head, and the extreme paranoia was horrible. I was that scared I didn't want to get out of my bed but I knew I had to. I cannot remember even going to the bathroom, but I knew I had to get out of my house.
It was a very cold Saturday morning and I was tired. Where was I going to go? the only place I could think of was my dad's house in Rochdale: I needed to get away from Gorton for a few weeks. I was feeling like I never ever want to experience this feeling again in my life. I got on the bus on Hyde Rd to go to my dad's. The bus ride was scary and challenging. I remember sitting in my seat and feeling as if it was like snowing inside the bus. Then all the other passengers turned around and started staring at Frankie Kington. It was a horrible experience. I was coming down from the drugs very badly with horrific hallucinations. I kept hearing my name being whispered at the back of the bus. I thought to myself I have to get off this bus as quickly as I can.
The next stop was the train station -Victoria Station in Manchester City Centre. I was not looking forward to the train journey to Rochdale. I remember sitting on the the train and this girl kept staring at me. I tried to ignore her but she kept moving her head so I couldn't avoid but to look at her. Then she started laughing very loudly at me with her friends . This was a horrible experience! Then I started to shake a little bit through being cold and heard more strange noises of my name being mentioned on the train. I just needed to get to my dad's very quickly to come off the drugs once and for all.
That was it, never again! I decided at that moment no more needles, no more Speed (Amphetamines). That experience of travelling to my dad's shook me up and frightened me in the sick condition I was in.
I arrived at dad's around 3.00pm,' Hello Dad', My dad looked at me as if to say, 'Hello son, you never told me you were coming over'. That was it - I broke down crying in front of my dad and his partner Sheila. My dad knew there was something wrong, he ushered me into his office in the garage to talk to me and I told my dad what the problem was.
Straight away my dad blamed everyone even my uncle Eddie. He always felt I was hanging around with the wrong people and had encouraged me to go back to school and study.. He was concerned about me,and he was upset I was not well. He could see I was cold and withdrawing from the drugs, so he left me alone for a few hours to let me withdraw from the drugs and get them out of my system, plus he had to work on a Saturday. I remember sitting in his office and hearing my name on the radio saying how paranoid I was. He had a plastic spider in his cup on his table and this started coming alive. I knew it was in my mind because of the drugs, but not nice to experience it. I stayed at my dad's for a whole month and signed off work with depression.Dad and I cried a lot and shared a lot of nostalgia from the past. The next step was to pluck up the courage and admit I was a 'Drug Addict' and I had a 'Problem'. My dad asked me questions like," where did you get your drugs from? were thee friends from school?How long have you been doing this?
My dad told me to stay away from these guys.He said I could stay at his house whenever I wanted, and he would find me a psychiatrist to talk to.'get as much help and support as you can,'he advised me. This was the fastest way to resolve the problem. Now I know the biggest step to take was to let my family know of my drug habit, then announce to my friends why I was away for four weeks. This behaviour had to change quickly for my own good.
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